Before The Thunder
by BonesBird
Summary: Jon and Erika are woken by a thunderstorm and both have to remind each other that they are on Earth and the war is over. Baby Serena helps make that real. Set in 2162.


**I've been struggling with my muse for a few days but I was talking to the wonderful Amelia Elizabeth earlier and threw out something similar to this, and she said "Oh I can just see Jon holding the baby" and that's when this hit properly and it was written in about an hour. This is also sort of dedicated to my friend Nyri, she and I talk each other through thunderstorms all the time. **

**Shin xx**

* * *

It had been more than a year now since they'd moved home to Earth, and so far they'd managed to miss this type of weather. He knew in his exit interview when leaving _Enterprise_ that it was easy for storms of this type to adversely affect veterans. He'd woken up at the first rumble, and picked Serena up on the second after the 5 month old started fussing. She hadn't wanted to be awake either.

Erika, thankfully, had so far managed to sleep through the low level rumbling. He was sure that wouldn't last, but for now he was glad she was still sleeping. They'd spoken to her counsellor together only a week earlier, and they had all thought Erika was handling her PTSD relatively well. Jon still woke up when she had flashbacks to one or another of the horrific situations she'd lived through in the last decade, but she somehow always managed to calm herself when she woke up.

Another loud rumble of thunder sounded and Serena started whimpering. He could tell she was going to cry, but he didn't want to wake Erika up if she was sleeping. "Hey, shush Bunny, we don't want to wake mommy."

"The thunder took care of that already." Came from the bed, and he turned back from the double doors that led out to their small yard. She had clearly woken up in a panic, but at least she'd gotten up.

"You're awake." He commented and smiled, even while he was fighting his own demons in this situation, he worried more about Erika. He always worried more about Erika, she mattered more to him.

She sat up, running her hands over her face and jumping slightly as thunder rumbled in the background. "Barely, the last one woke me. It reminded me of the-" Erika started, and he just held his hand up and frowned.

He shook his head, worried he hadn't done enough to help her already. "You don't need to say, I know. Come here." He held an arm out, and Erika slipped next to him. He just wanted to hold her, remind them both they were all together and they weren't going to wake up on their ships while under attack.

As soon as Erika was settled into his side it was obvious that she was happier to be comfortable there, and maybe feeling a little safer. He knew he was feeling safer beside her. "What about you Bunny, huh. The thunder wake you up too?" Erika addressed Serena, who clearly couldn't answer properly, but she gurgled in response.

"She's like her mommy, doesn't like the loud noise." He commented, kissing his daughter on the cheek. Erika rubbed her back and smiled, even as she jumped at another rumble of thunder. The time between the lightning and the thunder was the worst for him, because that was when he waited for the alarms to start.

Erika held her hands out for her daughter, and Serena made it quite clear that she'd rather go to mommy for the moment. He didn't mind, since it would give him a reason to hold both of them. "Come here Bun, let's watch the storm huh? You know when I was a kid I love the storms that brewed in the desert. I loved standing on Simon's bed in the attic and watching them strike the desert all around town." There was something to be said for growing up in a town like hers. "He used to stand with me and we'd count between the strikes. That was how I learnt to count, did I ever tell you that?" He blinked a couple of times and smiled, stepping behind her with his hands on her shoulders.

He learnt things about his wife every day. He had always known she was close to Simon, but some of the stories she hadn't told him yet proved to him why they were close. Sometimes it made him sad that he was an only child, and that his daughter was likely to be an only child. At least she would grow up with kids around all the time. "No, you didn't. You and Simon must have been adorable children."

As another flash filled the room he looked to Erika, who thankfully didn't seem to react too badly. Maybe it was the dozing baby in her arms, the baby they'd created together, who was clearly managing to help both her parents stay calm. "Shall we count, yeah. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight!" As the thunder got louder he felt his own fear rise and wrapped his arm around her. Needing her support too. "Eight seconds, that means it's just over three and a half kilometres away." He had never known how to work out the distance and it's correlation to lightning and thunder, but he was glad to have heard Erika telling Serena how far away it was, that helped him know

As the thunder abated he knew that Erika's muttering to Serena would only hold her over for so long. Reminding her where she was, and who she was with was almost certain to be the only way to keep her there, and to keep him there too. "You're home, Rike. You're on Earth." He whispered gently, holding her momentarily tighter. Just wanting to keep her safe.

She nodded a little, then jumped again as another flash of light lit the room. Serena was at least still asleep, seemingly not caring that her mother was occasionally making involuntary movements. The longer Erika stood with him calmly dealing with things the more Jon knew they were both going to be fine. He was about to reach for his drink when Erika grabbed his arm with her free hand, obviously somehow knowing he was about to move. "Jon... don't let go, OK?" She muttered and leant back into him more. That was one of her signs, one of the few ways she had to tell him that she really needed him and his support. She rarely asked anything, no matter the situation, so he took this as a win.

"Not a chance." He mumbled against her ear then kissed her neck. He wrapped his arms around his girls and just watched the storm out the window, he felt every jump and tic Erika had as she fought to keep her cool, but between the two of them they were going to get through this experience and they would both be stronger for it. The memories it evoked for the both of them were too painful to mention aloud most of the time, but this moment, despite the pain, was something he knew he'd be able to look back on fondly and remember that this was one of the days that changed them and helped them grow.


End file.
